The Funniest Chinese Homophone Misunderstandings to Learn From

Have you ever tried to say something in Chinese only to use the wrong tones and say something completely inappropriate or random? Don’t worry! It happens to every Chinese learner in the beginning.

This is because Chinese has a limited number of syllables, only about 30% of what English has, therefore tones are used to distinguish the syllables and to create the meaning of a word. This also creates the use of more similar sounding words, called homophones.

In Chinese, there are plenty of homophones, which literally mean "same sound words", and near-homophones that are linguistically interesting and can even create comical situations. Once you are able to distinguish more homophones from one another your efficiency of learning Chinese characters will certainly improve.

Not only will learning homophonic Chinese characters help you to understand the homophonic culture and perspective of Chinese people, but it will also reduce frustrations and misunderstanding encountered in daily communication. Let’s go over 7 homophones that can be found confusing Chinese learners all over the world.

#1 Common and confused homophones in daily life:

I. 枕头 (Zhěntou) vs 针头 (Zhēntóu)

枕头 (Zhěntou) pillow
针头 (Zhēntóu) pinhead; syringe needle; needle tip

"枕头 (Zhěntou)" means pillow while "针头 (zhēntóu)" means needle. "针头 (Zhēntóu)" could easily cause some strange looks if you use it in place of "pillow". "I want to decorate my bed with more "针头 (zhēntóu)." Strange indeed!

Click "Read More" to Master Other Useful and Interesting Chinese Homophones